Charles J. Greenberg

Talkin' TC

MEMORIES, INK

I am lucky enough to have married a TC alum and work with two others. I
met my husband, Tim Horvath (MA in English Education, 1996), at the
orientation table on my very first day at Teachers College in August
1994. I was part-time at TC for another nine years, completing my
doctorate in English Education in 2005. At the Graduate School of
Education at Lesley University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I now share
an office with Erika Thulin Dawes, who completed her doctorate in
Curriculum & Teaching. Two doors down is Grace Enriquez, who also
completed her doctorate in Curriculum & Teaching. Together, the
three of us coauthor a blog on using children's literature in the
classroom (www.classroombookshelf.blogspot.com). Erika and I recently coauthored a book together entitled Teaching with Text Sets (www.teachingwithtextsets.blogspot.com). How different my life would be without Teachers College!

My first TC memory was when I first went to visit the campus after being accepted. I could not actually believe this was going to be my school. I felt honored that I was going to be a part of something much bigger than myself. Teachers College will always be a place that I will carry with me the rest of my life. It was wonderful going to class everyday, having each professor in line with the next in their beliefs and philosophies. I will never forget anyone here, especially the people I met along the way. You make lifelong friends here, because you're all in it for the same reason. At the end of the day, we all believe, "Teaching: we're not in it for the income - we're in it for the outcome."

Teachers College provided me the most awesome opportunity to freely pursue knowledge and truth, with the inspiration from my brilliant instructors and peers. My experience at TC not only encourages me, but also enables me to be better in both daily life and the field of teaching. Happy birthday to you, my beloved TC!

I will never forget my first few days at TC. I got completely lost in the basement as I tried to get from building to building. I have continued to explore TC in my spare time and have discovered some fascinating rooms. Of course the greatest discovery has been the impressive TC faculty.

I've met some of the most incredible people in this one weekend (Academic Festival). I know I've made the right choice. Every person I've talked to is passionate about education, and has brilliant ideas for innovating the future of education in both the U.S. and all over the world.

I first arrived at Teachers College as a young, beginning doctoral student in 1980. I have been teaching here as an adjunct for almost 15 years. My formative professional development started here and continues here to this day. I feel very comforted when I step across 120th street walking into Thompson or Horace Mann and walking these halls that have changed little (in a good way) over the years.

I love walking down the halls of TC going to Whittier hall where the Office of International Services is located. I love coming to work each day welcoming our students and scholars to the TC community.

My first true memory of being at TC was my first day in 2003. I received the most heartfelt greeting from Elaine Brantley, the cafeteria cashier. The warmth I received from this stranger was overwhelming and made my transition to working here a successful one. She left a couple of months later, but I have retained her spirit in me, if only in some small way.

After hearing about my struggle to ascend from being a high school drop-out to an outstanding science teacher, Dr. OR Anderson, chair of the Math and Science Department allowed me to enter the science department as a probationary student. That act changed my life because it allowed me the path to growth and achievement. This was in 1986. In 2001 I graduated from TC with an ED in science education. Today, I am the executive director of the Westchester County Youth Bureau. My hope is that in my present position I can encourage as many adults as possible to touch the lives of youth to give them the opportunity to grow in much the same way that Dr. OR. Anderson did for me.

In 1971, I began an MA in Art and Education, immediately falling in love with clay and the ceramics studio. Dr. Bill Mahoney and Peggy Bye were the ceramics teachers. We worked around the clock, fighting over wheels. In warmer weather we fired in the courtyard, smoking up many a classroom. Once, the Fire Department arrived. My closest friendships were forged in those Macy basement studios. I left for a ceramics position in the Berkshires and returned to TC in 1977 to run the ceramics studio, teach a class or two and work on my EdD in Art and Education. I finished in 1983 and was very sad to leave my wonderful world at Teachers College. I have been a Professor of Art at the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University since 1985, a school with many TC Alumni art faculty members. These friends made in 1971 are still making beautiful ceramic work all over the world. Our time at Teachers College was formative for all of us.

The legacy of my grandmother, Dorothy (Epstein) Lande, having graduated with a Elementary Education degree from Teacher's College in December 1945 inspired me to apply to TC's EdM Higher and Postsecondary Education program. Although I cannot share my 2013 acceptance and this amazing opportunity with her, I am truly honored and blessed to be able to get involved as she was in various student activities, including her position as President of the Student Council and taking classes in the same locations she had.

TC impacted my life in many ways. One of the best and most memorable was the informal education and relationships that I developed outside the classroom. The friendships that I gained with my peers of various backgrounds was and still are very meaningful. I would not trade those experiences for anything and they still carry me today. Thank you TC!

After working as a social work evaluation field consultant with N.Y.C. Youth Services, I was appointed Director of Training and I felt that besides my Master of Social Work degree, I should now study education towards an Ed.D. I entered TC's Curriculum and Teaching Dept. with the Dept. Head Florence Stratemeyer as my advisor. I typed my first report with my little son on my back. Because of my four children, Prof. Miel called me Papa in her class. Several year later I had to stop because I was promoted to the level of assistant commissioner and could not spare the time. But after a few years I came back, only to stop again when my wife passed away and in my off work time I needed to care for my four children. I was very encouraged to return and resume my dissertation by some good friends and yes, by my barber. Prof. Stratemeyer had retired and Prof. Harry Passow became my advisor, but not for long because he retired and very fortunately Prof. Ann Lieberman saw me through so very diligently and helpfully that after 33 years since my start, my dissertation was accepted by the committee. TC stuck with me after all the trials and tribulations and I will be so ever grateful and happy.

One of my first courses in the Cognitive Studies in Education program at TC was Theories of Human Cognition and Learning. There were two professors teaching that single course that semester - Dr. John B. Black, the current chairman of the program and the late Dr. Ernest Z. Rothkopf. Both inspired me, and I was grateful for this rare opportunity to experience learning from two scholars of such integrity and research acumen.

Professor Frances P. Connor was President of the Council for Exceptional Children in 1963. While doing research for my dissertation I came across a journal article with a photograph of Dr. Connor shaking President Kennedy's hand after the signing of a bill authorizing federal funding for services for disabled children. I told her about the photo and she shared with me that after that photo was taken President Kennedy left for Dallas.

Another time I was seated beside a fellow alumnus at a Faculty House alumni dinner event and we began talking about our TC experiences. She told me that while living near Lincoln Center, she worked as a secretary in lower Manhattan, then took the subway up to TC after work. Someone suggested she get a secretary job at Columbia to lessen her commute. She wound up getting a job in the President's office. The President of the university at that time was Dwight Eisenhower! She then went on to share her experiences when Mamie Eisenhower came to visit her husband.

I applied and was accepted for admission to Teachers College as a soldier stationed in the Panama Canal zone in the mid 1950’s. I had no previous teaching experience as I was drafted into the army immediately after graduating. Two weeks after being discharged I was sitting with my assigned TC advisor at registration who took a dim view of my admission credentials based upon the fact that I had no teaching experience whatsoever. In the ensuing two years supported by the GI bill and a monthly subsistence check my life was forever placed on a path toward a successful future in education.

During my tenure as a masters degree student I was given the responsibility of becoming supervisor of TC’s Audio Visual Laboratory which included the Macy Hall recording studios. At this juncture in time TC purchased their first television production equipment which was used to provide a variety of studio production experiences for students in a variety of courses. I developed a simple studio production manual which was published by the TC Bureau of Publications. It was a very unscholarly 20 page booklet which sold for $2.00. It was my very first published document. Soon after I was entrusted to teach two one credit lab courses in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching, my first paid teaching experience. It was now the summer of 1958.

Due to the strong recommendation of a TC staff member I applied for and was accepted as the first educational media director of the Bronxville Public School in Westchester County, NY. This K-12, one building school district became my home away from home for the next 37 years. During most of this period I continued to teach media courses at TC, and at the same time successfully completed my doctoral studies. Well, that’s my TC story. A story made possible by the opportunities afforded me by a group of outstanding staff members at Teachers College.

I am now 81 years old. There is not a day that goes by that I do not reflect fondly on my “good old days” at Teachers College and the wonderful staff members who truly changed my life forever.

I was a science teacher while attending graduate school and didn't see how I could pay for the summer session. I had applied for a Dupont Summer Science Fellowship and was chosen. I continued school, received my M.A. in 1957, became a Federal Scientist in 1958, and retired in 1988. Thank you Teachers College.

My first final exam was in Dec 2002 and it was cancelled due to snowstorm. So I was happy to have an exam-free break. In Nov 2011, as a junior faculty back my home country, I was honored to host my advisor in TC (Prof. Hank Levin) as a Distinguished Guest Speaker in my current institution. He was as intelligent and humorous as before and my students adored him as much as I did. I love my teachers in TC!

What a pleasure to be here! Not only did I get my doctorate at Teachers College in 1970, but now, in 2013, I am teaching a course here! I already have 16 students—-the best students in the world. And we are talking about the image of the family in television, theater, internet, and film. Especially all of the changes in the depiction of the family, and I am a very happy professor here. Come and see me!

From my four months of experience at TC so far, I have learned much from TC professors within my program - MA Adult Learning and Leadership. That is the most unforgettable part to me thus far. I expect and really look forward to further discoveries on my way ahead through the future semesters!! God bless TC. : )

One of the most interesting memories at TC is being able to participate in the afterschool program at Teachers College Community School (TCCS). Sometimes the kids are difficult but coming up with classroom management methods is rewarding in itself.

During my first class at TC, I was inspired by the lecture that my professor gave and their personal story behind becoming a scholar in education. At that moment, I realized that I made the right decision to attend TC.

I became a TC student in 1976 and changed to an alumna in 1986, a decade of many events in my life, both high and low. On graduation day in May 1986, I was washing my hands in the women's room, being careful not to splash water on the doctoral stripes on the sleeves. A young girl of perhaps 12 or 13 held the door for me and asked, What do the stripes mean? They mean I have a doctorate, I replied. Really?! Wow, that's great! I suddenly realized that a decade's experiences had truly meant something; I was a doctor! My two main dissertation advisors, Leslie Williams and Harry Passow, have died, but I will always remember the gifts of time, expertise, and support they gave me. TC will always be a special place, mostly because of the people who walk its halls.

I studied in the Ed.D. Program with Dr. William Hug in the 70's. Thanks to his guidance I have been a professor with CUNY for over 30 years and was ranked twice as the #1 Junior College Professor in the United States.

My entrance into TC in 1965 was quite accidental. I just came to New York after serving two years in the Peace Corps. Sightseeing, I visited Columbia's campus in July 1965 and ran into a fellow trainee who wasn't selected for the Peace Corps. He had just earned his M.A. and was working on campus for Peace Corps training programs but had accepted a teaching position beginning in September. His boss offered me the position providing that I could pass a typing test. I accepted on the condition that TC admitted me as a work study student. TC admitted me on probation and I graduated with a M.A. in teaching of history in February 1967. This opportunity for higher education encouraged me, later, to earn a doctorate in American history from the City University of New York.